What happens when you get paid to listen...

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What happens when you get paid to listen...

I am a professional Integral Coach.

I work with clients to help them make the shift from where they are, to where they want to be.

I am also a visual facilitator.

As a visual facilitator, I use large sheets of paper to help individuals and groups move through a process. I do this work in offices (strategic planning, visioning), at schools, and on one-on-one retreats in beautiful places like Banff (personal/professional visioning).

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Tick Tock: Why racing against the clock is killing us.

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Tick Tock: Why racing against the clock is killing us.

Do you ever feel like you are racing against the clock? Have you ever find yourself bargaining with the universe, asking for another hour or two in the day? I know I certainly have, many times over. The truth is we have become a society that races against the clock. There are signs on the freeway that tell us how long it will take to get to the next intersection. We find ourselves staying late at work because we were unable to get any ‘real work’ done during business hours. The end result is that we are more depleted, exhausted and overwhelmed than ever before. We have more to do, and less time to do it in. In many ways, our modern society is at a crisis point, a time in human history that is calling (even begging) for a new paradigm—a new way of tapping into a more holistic and intentional approach to the world of work. 

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On Being Fierce.

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On Being Fierce.

Last week I had a phone conversation with a woman who is powerful beyond measure. She is a leader, a problem solver, and someone who others look to for inspiration and guidance. This woman’s vulnerability was palpable. She was clearly feeling worn down by the weight of overwhelm and exhaustion, brought on by staying too long at a job that demands too much. On the day we spoke, she had had enough. Enough of being the one to put out the fires. Enough of being there for everyone else. Enough of a system that didn’t recognize her humanity.

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Why self-care isn't selfish.

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Why self-care isn't selfish.

When I was a young girl, my mother had a specific tree just behind our house where she would occasionally retreat to when she needed a break from being a full-time mother, trapped on a 100-acre farm with four boisterous children. It was her place of refuge. For a few short moments, with a cup of coffee and her thoughts, my mother would sit quietly, hidden under the droopy branches of a spruce tree.

Usually she was able to slip away while we were out playing or otherwise occupied, but a few times I remember my siblings and I running around the house and the forest, trying to find that special tree and our mother who had taken her brief reprieve from us. 

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Are you listening? How slowing down helps us tune in.

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Are you listening? How slowing down helps us tune in.

Just this summer, I was at my doctor’s office for my annual checkup. Our visit started, as it usually does, with a series of questions about my current state of health. I sat, legs dangling from the examination table, starring absentmindedly at the posters on the wall. My doctor also sat, her back to me, as she riddled off a series of rather personal doctor-like questions. As I responded to each question, she earnestly entered my responses onto a file in her computer. Only once or twice, during that first 15 minutes of the visit, did our eyes connect for a brief moment when she turned her head slightly to confirm what I had said.

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How I boosted my productivity by stopping - a quick lesson in doing nothing.

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How I boosted my productivity by stopping - a quick lesson in doing nothing.

This past week, I found myself restless and squirming at my desk, unable to link even two coherent sentences together. Instead of switching gears and doing something else I just kept pushing, desperate to squeeze out an article in time for my self-imposed deadline (which has passed, in case you are wondering). The more I tried to write, the more frustrated I became with myself and the abysmal work I was producing. I grappled for any semblance to flow, but it was completely and firmly out of my reach.

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The True Cost of Distraction

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The True Cost of Distraction

This summer, I attended a music festival where I witnessed, first-hand, the powerful impact of that the game, Pokémon Go, has had on so many. It was late at night as I left the festival, and I found myself walking through what seemed like a Pokémon epicentre (my nephew tells me it was a PokeStop, a place where both supplies and Pokémon can be found).

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Rethinking what productivity looks like at work

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Rethinking what productivity looks like at work

North Americans might be working longer hours than those in other developed countries, but we are actually lagging behind when it comes to our productivity. Culturally, we tend to associate working long hours with being effective and committed; a mindset deeply imbedded in how we approach our day-to-day work. While many of us wear our tendency to overwork as a sort of badge of honour and importance (100% guilty over here!), the harsh truth is that more time working does not necessarily equal greater productivity.

In fact, studies show that the more we work, the less effective we are. When operating from a perspective of time scarcity, we can become convinced that we need to hurry through our days, checking our list off as we go. But, when immersed in the frenzy of meetings and deadlines, we are only able to offer a small fraction of ourselves to the actual task at hand. Our attention is fragmented and our ability to focus suffers. 

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The Power of Reflection

/ Julie Murray Coaching/
The Power of Reflection

Think you don’t have time to pause and reflect? Think again.

Taking the time to pause and reflect can have a powerful impact on both how we work and how we live. Reflection comes from the Latin word reflectere, which means to bend back or turn back, and it occurs when we become conscious of, analyze, evaluate and question our experiences, assumptions, beliefs, and emotions. In order to really ‘bend back’ and be reflective, we must be prepared to slow down and consciously think about our own experiences.

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